


Freedom Of

by BananaStrings



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Desire, Getting Back Together, Interlude, M/M, Rituals, Smoking, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25925251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BananaStrings/pseuds/BananaStrings
Summary: Every day Billy and Goody make a promise to one another to not let the fire go out of either of them.
Relationships: Goodnight Robicheaux & Billy Rocks, Sam Chisolm/Goodnight Robicheaux
Kudos: 6





	Freedom Of

Chisolm looked worried for that split second, before he turned away for Rose Creek's inn. Goody was unsettled by it. He dragged on the shared cigarette, then looked down at it in recognition. After he dropped it and crushed it under his heel, he looked to Billy but got no reaction.

Billy was good like that, steady. It reminded Goodnight to take a moment to smooth down his clothing and his hair, before he stepped off the porch. He could feel Billy’s smirk behind him, like the comfort of the sun at his back. Goody followed Sam into the inn.

Sam was sitting down and waiting for his meal. Goodnight hesitated, but Sam just nodded him down onto the bench on the other side of the long communal table, empty this late at night. Robicheaux rubbed his thumb and fingers together in circles. Chisolm noticed the motion at once.

"It’s not what you think," Goody murmured.

Sam didn’t reply, but he was listening.

"You’re not sure," Goody observed.

"About you, I’m always sure," Sam reminded, as a bowl of sweet corn mush in warm buttermilk was set in front of him.

The smell was enticing and Goody made a guess:

"It’s the bitter herbs in there. You’re not sure if they’re hiding something."

Sam glanced up with his eyes, still leaning over his bowl to eat, but it was a yes. Goodnight wasn't sure how to proceed. This man had seen about every side of him to see, but not this one, not down to the bottom, the very soles of his feet.

"They're not," Goody stated. "We pick them ourselves, Billy and me. It's a little ritual of ours. I gained the skill after you and I parted. I, well, I'm not sure how to put this; I was traded, you see. Not sold, nothing that cruel, but I was traded to a group of Indians for a while. I think they half-expected, well, ransom is too crude of a word, but this name of mine...Anyhow they were gracious enough to let me leave after a spell. To be honest, it was difficult to go. That's when I went after Billy's bounty, and, well..."

Sam stopped eating and tilted his head to one side. Goody was hoping there wouldn't be pity or laughter at his expense or worst of all that look he'd seen plenty on Sam's face when hunting outlaws. Robicheaux had seen this man judge a good deal of lives as unworthy of continuing.

But, he was looking at Goody as anything but. Smiling a little at him with his eyes, Sam wiped his mouth, leaned back, looked up to scan the room, then laid his gaze on the wall over Goody’s shoulder. There was a gentleness to him with Goodnight that he had missed. A trust there when he needed it, when he couldn’t trust himself.

It was different with Billy. They were like family, just knowing one another was always there. But, they couldn’t really be lamby with one another, not when they were both trying so damned hard to make it through each day.

Sam, somehow Sam could always afford it. And, Sam must be able to read it on him, even without looking, the reminiscence. The smile was almost to his lips now, when Goody looked.

"So, you and he…?"

Goody felt his skin flush hot all at once. It wouldn’t pink his face, not a man who had grown up in the murky heat of the bayou. Still, he dipped his head down to the side, like he could hide behind his hat brim from Sam, as though Sam was just another mark on the street, ready to place a bet on Goody’s shaky hands making shaky shots.

Goody was not sure what to say; he hadn’t been thinking about Billy with that soft look on his face. That was still Sam’s look. By default he tried to play it like a joke.

"We’re some kind of family, Billy and I," he said, swiveling his face up the opposite direction and squinting like he was trying to make out what kind they could possibly be.

Sam was not smiling anymore in the corner of Goody’s eye, but his face had opened up finally with something like relief. Goodnight went still, waiting. He had never been able do more than that with Sam, too overwhelmed by his attentions to do jack all but tilt up his chin, part his lips and tremble. Then those two big hands would come up on either side of his jaw and hold him and that mouth.

Damnit but Goody could feel it starting already, his lips wanting to start trembling; he bit them closed between his teeth. He heard the heavy exhale of the man across from him, felt Sam like a warm beacon.

"Come, get your boots off for a while," Sam offered, rising slowly and waiting for Goody to look up.

This far west he needed do no more than follow Sam up the stairs. Two women per every twenty men in a town like this, no one would bat a lash. Maybe in any other their different coloring would have made Goodnight slink around in the dark, but not here.

Here the lantern was glowing saffron on the floorboards, and they were both traipsing right on through its light to the staircase. Freedom from, didn’t exist in this world, he wished he could tell these people. Fighting, there was plenty of that, fighting never stopped, but that was not all there was. Not tonight.


End file.
